Industry unites to fight alarming apprentices decision

The government has shocked the industry by dumping five of the six print apprentices from its new priority list, but the industry is coming together to fight to reverse the decision, which it says is alarming, and of great concern.

The industry’s two big associations have formed a coalition with unions, industry bodies and stakeholders, to reverse the “alarming” decision of government to pull print industry apprenticeships from the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List.

The Printing and Visual Communications Association (PVCA), and The Real Media Collective (TRMC) - which are intending to merge into one industry association - will lead the fight for print apprentices to be put back on the list. The removal of print apprenticeships from their previous priority levels was undertaken without notice being provided to industry, and without consultation, or an opportunity for the industry to respond.

Kellie Northwood, CEO of TRMC and incoming CEO, PVCA said, “The removal of the industry’s apprenticeships from the federal Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, along with the defunding of the comprehensive tranche of industry training certification courses from state TAFEs and training providers, is alarming, and one our industry strongly rejects.

“It is difficult to overstate the importance of our industry. Our industry encompasses the making and manufacturing of printing, packaging and labelling, health and medical forms, media and information services, government notices and communications, 3D manufacturing, animation, newspaper and magazine publications providing in-home media and community notices, signage and other notices to the public, toiletries, transactional mail and postal services, finance and insurance notices, paper and pulp manufacturing, and much more. For the government to simply remove our Awards, without consultation, is of great concern.”

In the federal Government’s 2022 Budget proposal of $2.4bn for funding for the new Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System, commencing on 1 July this year, the industry was cheered in the policy approach designed to increase apprenticeship commencements and completions in occupations on the Australian Apprenticeship Priority List (priority occupations) and support employers around Australia to fill skills shortages. This replaced the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program, which is closing to new entrants on 30 June.

However, the print manufacturing and related services industries has only just learnt that the apprenticeships across the industry have been removed from the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, with the exception of signwriting apprenticeships. This excludes all five other apprenticeships specific to the industry.

“Federal and state governments have for some time communicated their understanding and support for the apprenticeship system and the importance of apprenticeships for the benefits they bring the country. However, those statements sound hollow when governments start to show preferential treatment and prioritising training and support for a very limited number of trades, and remove funding for the apprenticeship training programs across other industries like ours. We will be calling this out across federal and state governments to bring a higher priority to our industry,” said Northwood.

The dumping of print apprentices from the scheme comes despite the sector being one of the largest manufacturing employers in the country, employing some 258,000 Australians directly and another 342,000 indirectly, and across regional and metropolitan locations. The government requirement across the department is to consult and it is on this failure that PVCA/TRMC will be arguing more vehemently.

In addition, the recent review has revealed the diminishing VET system over the past decade, due to declines in state and federal funding to TAFEs, and private sector training providers for the provision of apprenticeship training. Certain training courses, such as the Cert III in Print Finishing Binding & Packaging, are no longer being offered in NSW, QLD, SA and are unavailable in other states.

Further, the NSW government spent $16.6m to offshore the content creation for TAFE courses via consulting firms Deloitte’s and EY, and the outsourcing and offshoring resulted in lowered standards of course content when compared to Australian Industry Standards.

“When our industry has a new employee who wants to start their apprenticeship we want the best pathway for them, however, when the state TAFE system no longer offers the particular training and certification, or only offer an online classroom for a practical apprenticeship, it is crushing. The demand and the need for our industry is real, and justifies that government correct the funding inputs, we must do better than having our apprentices trained on laptops in empty office buildings,” said Northwood.

“Over the last years, various state TAFE systems have outsourced responsibility for the provision of formal training arrangements for apprentices in our industry. We do not object to this approach necessarily, however, those institutions are reliant upon ongoing government funding to provide the training. What we are finding is that funding is not being continued, leaving our members with limited or no training options for their apprentices in their states and we will be working with all members, industry associations and trade unions to seek government correction across this important matter,” concluded Northwood.